Streaming Bitrate Calculator

For YouTube with H.264, use the recommended video bitrate for your target quality: 8,000 kbps for 720p30 or 720p60, 14,000 kbps for 1080p30 and 17,000 kbps for 1080p60. For a shared multistream feed, follow the strictest destination limit. The calculator uses 6,000 kbps for standard Twitch H.264, which is below YouTube's recommendation. Use CBR rate control, a 2 second keyframe interval and 128 kbps AAC audio. The calculator prints these numbers for your exact setup.

Yes, for one 6,000 kbps video feed with 128 kbps audio and 50% headroom, which needs about 9.2 Mbps. YouTube's recommended H.264 presets need more: about 12.2 Mbps upload for 720p30 or 720p60, 21.2 Mbps for 1080p30, and 25.7 Mbps for 1080p60. Lower-bitrate feeds may fit but fall below those recommendations. To reach several platforms on 10 Mbps, use a cloud multistreaming service so only one feed leaves your connection.

Twitch's standard H.264 ingest caps video at 6,000 kbps. With 128 kbps audio and the recommended 50% headroom, plan for roughly 9.2 Mbps of steady upload. Eligible channels can turn on Enhanced Broadcasting in their streaming software for higher limits, but the standard path is the safe baseline.

Only if your encoder sends each copy itself. Three destinations then means three full feeds, roughly triple the upload. A cloud multistreaming service takes one feed from you and sends the copies from its servers, so your upload stays the same however many destinations you add.

Measure my upload sends test data from your browser to Cloudflare's public speed test servers for about 10 seconds, one upload at a time, and reports the typical speed of the longer uploads. A stream in OBS also travels over one connection, so this is closer to what a stream gets than a speed test that opens many connections at once. Run it on the machine and network you stream from.

Roughly 0.45 GB per hour for every 1 Mbps of stream. A Twitch-capped 1080p60 feed at 6.13 Mbps uploads about 2.8 GB per hour, and a YouTube 1080p60 H.264 feed at 17,000 kbps video plus 128 kbps audio uploads about 7.7 GB per hour. Multiply by the number of feeds if your computer sends each copy itself.

6,000 kbps video with 128 kbps audio is the standard Twitch limit. At that bitrate 1080p60 can look soft in fast games, so many streamers use 900p60 or 720p60 for a sharper picture. Your upload needs about 9.2 Mbps with safe headroom. Eligible channels with Enhanced Broadcasting can go higher.

The same numbers as OBS, because Streamlabs Desktop uses the same encoders. Open Settings, Output, set Rate Control to CBR, type the video bitrate from the calculator and set the keyframe interval to 2 seconds. Pick the platforms you stream to so the result fits the strictest one.

Kick takes up to 8,000 kbps video at up to 1080p60. If you stream to Kick and Twitch with one feed, stay at Twitch's 6,000 kbps, or send one feed to a cloud multistreaming service that relays it to both.

Use wired ethernet whenever you can. Live streams need a steady upload, and Wi-Fi adds jitter and packet loss that show up as dropped frames even when a speed test looks fast. If you must use Wi-Fi, pick the Extra safe headroom in the calculator and test from the streaming machine itself.